We'll Take a Cup of Kindness yet
by Chiera
Summary: 2016 had been the shittiest year in Lily's life, and for the first time ever she's facing the prospect of celebrating New Year's Eve all alone - though thankfully a chance meeting foils that plan.


The pub was noisy and warm. Lily sat alone at small table by a window, where she could see the street outside as well as the whole wood-panelled room she was in. The place was packed with people who were laughing, chatting, eating, drinking; celebrating.

She wasn't in a very festive mood. Glumly, she pushed the few remaining chips around on her plate. Still, she did agree that there was a cause to celebrate – in two more hours this miserable year would be over.

Twelve months. It didn't seem like such a long time, so how come _everything_ had changed?

It had started with her mother. They had buried her in March, and the devastation of Mrs Evans' passing was what had finally driven Lily and her estranged sister apart, seemingly for good. Just like that, Lily suddenly had no family left.

She'd started growing apart from her friends as well. After graduating from university in June they had all gone their separate ways and in that initial rush of getting used to being a full-fledged adult with a full-time job she'd fallen out of contact with most of them. The longer she'd gone without talking to them, the harder it became to start a conversation.

Then, in October, she'd finally grown fed up with making excuses for her childhood friend. Hard though it had been, she'd told him she was done with him; she hadn't liked the person he had grown up to be. He'd fallen into a bad crowd quite a while back, really, but Lily had been hanging on, thinking the boy she had befriended was still in there, somewhere. Until she had finally realised she didn't know who he was anymore and had no more room in her life for the likes of him.

And that was why, for the first time, she was going to welcome the new year all alone. Well, at least she had made some effort; instead of staying home with her cat, feeling all pathetic and sorry for herself, she had gone to the pub.

After all, grim as her mood was, this night was one for celebration. 2016 had been perhaps the shittiest year of her life and one packed full of losses, and she for one was eager to see it go. She had no clue what 2017 would hold in store, but surely it couldn't be worse than the past twelve months. Even now, she wasn't entirely sure how she'd managed to pull through such a hellish stretch.

"Now that just isn't right," someone spoke right next to her.

Lily startled. A man with glasses and messy black hair was standing by her table and frowning at her.

She steeled herself. Though she was getting tired of feeling alone, she wasn't desperate enough yet to welcome the company of just anybody, and she certainly didn't need any bloke to chat her up.

Her lack of response didn't discourage the man, though. He grinned at her, and lifted the bottle he was carrying for her to see.

"Here," he said genially, "let me fix that for you."

And before Lily had time to do anything but scowl at this daft young man, he popped the champagne bottle, grabbed her empty glass and poured.

"There you go," he said, setting the drink down before her. "Glass half full."

She stared at him; at his ridiculous hair, his laughing hazel eyes and his crooked smile.

Was this guy for real?

Lily opened her mouth – to ask if perhaps the poor bloke had forgotten his medicine tonight – when a sudden shout made her jump.

"Prongs!"

The young man with the bottle grimaced, and then another guy appeared.

"There you are! Don't wander off when you're the one with the bottle, we can't bloody well toast without the champagne," the new arrival scolded. Then, he noticed Lily, and rolled his eyes. "Oh. I see. Figures. A pair of pretty… eyes, and you're wasting our booze away."

Lily scoffed.

The young man with the bottle shrugged."Technically, it's my bottle. I'm the one who paid for it, and if you keep running your gob at me like that, I won't give you any."

"C'mon, Prongs, I was just taking the mickey! Don't be a twat, you know my money's tight right now."

Lily decided she liked this new young man even less.

Quite deliberately, she picked up her glass and took a slow sip of the champagne.

"All the more reason not to insult the friend who's paying," she commented, studying the bubbles in her drink.

The first guy snorted a laugh, while the second bristled, ready to retort – but was interrupted by the arrival of a _third_ young man.

Good lord, how many of them were there and could they go and converge someplace else?

The third one seemed to agree with her, since he crossed his arms and glared at the other two.

"What's taking so long, why're you standing around here when Pete's already got us a table?"

"Prongs is taking liberties with our booze," the second man complained, jabbing a finger in Lily's direction.

The third man turned and blinked.

"Lily? Lily Evans?"

Lily's eyebrows shot up.

"Remus Lupin. Interesting company you're keeping these days."

Remus glanced at his mates. "They have their faults, but there's never a dull moment."

"I resent that," the second man sniffed. "I'm _perfection_."

Remus and the other man shared a look, then quickly looked away before they'd burst to laughter.

"It's nice to see you again, though," Remus said, smiling at Lily. "What're you up to, these days?"

Lily grimaced. "Not much. Mostly work. You?"

"Same," Remus shrugged.

"How do you two know each other again?" the young man with the bottle inquired politely.

"From uni," Remus replied. "Had some courses together."

"That's cool. Are you a teacher, too? Like Remus?" the man asked, obviously interested.

"No, I work for a cosmetics company," Lily replied.

"Really?" The young man's eyebrow quirked. "Which one?"

"Euphemia."

The young man blinked. The second man chuckled. Remus smiled wryly.

"What's so funny about my work?" Lily asked, indignant at their reactions.

"Nothing," Remus said quickly.

"Everything," the second man drawled, sneering at her. Apparently, he found the whole thing hilarious. "What do you do, marketing? Communication, perhaps? Oh, _HR_?"

Lily shot him a glare.

"I'm a chemist, actually," she said coolly.

The young man with the bottle whistled. "Sounds impressive."

The second man rolled his eyes and took a seat at the end of the table, diagonally across from Lily.

"What're you doing?" the other guy hissed, his free hand making even a bigger mess of his hair.

A nervous gesture, Lily guessed.

"Well, we're obviously not going to get to _our_ table any time soon, and I'm tired of standing around." He leaned back in the chair and slanted a glance at Lily. "I'm Sirius, by the way."

"Lily," she murmured.

"Would you mind?" Remus asked.

Lily looked at him. She liked Remus and his wry sense of humour, and odd as his friends were… it wouldn't be bad to have company.

Lily shrugged. "Go ahead."

Remus flashed a smile and sat down onto the chair next to Lily.

The first guy was still playing nervously with his hair and shifted on his feet. Lily arched her eyebrow at him.

"Well?" she prompted. "Aren't you going to sit down?"

He set the champagne bottle on the table in front of Sirius and then squeezed behind his chair to take the only remaining seat, the one across from Lily.

"Finally," Sirius sighed, poured himself a glass and passed the bottle to Remus.

"I feel like we're forgetting something," Remus muttered, frowning as he filled his own glass.

"We're forgetting Peter," the guy with the glasses said, helping himself to the bottle.

"Oh bloody hell," Sirius grumbled and peered over the crowd in the pub. "OY, PETE! Get your arse over here!"

A moment later a short plump man arrived. All the seats already taken, he borrowed a free chair from a nearby table and sat at the end.

"Pete, this is Moony's friend Lily. Lily, here's our mate Peter."

Lily nodded to the man who greeted her with a cheery _Hullo_ , then turned to stare across the table.

"What about you, then? Gonna introduce yourself or keep me in the dark?"

The man actually blushed, earning a snicker from Sirius.

"I'm James," he said, running his hand through his hair.

Definitely a nervous gesture, Lily decided, though she didn't think James had anything to be so anxious about.

She took pity on him."Nice to meet you, James. And thanks for the champagne."

"No problem," James replied. "Can't be celebrating without champagne, can we?"

"No we can't," Sirius declared, raising his glass. "Gentlemen – and Lily – another year is nearly over and we are still here. Same old faces and one new one. So let us drink! To friendship!"

"To friendship," everyone echoed, and the five glasses met above the table with several clinks.

As she sipped the champagne, Lily's gaze wandered, studying each young man. It was weird to suddenly find herself in such a company after her long stretch of solitude.

Her eyes met James'; they lit up as he smiled at her. Lily returned the smile.

Weird, but the good kind of weird.

The guys chatted and quipped while Lily and Remus caught up, talking about uni and work and Lily's cat. The minutes flew by, and she was surprised when Peter announced that there was only forty minutes left until midnight.

"Forty minutes?" James repeated, checking his own watch to be sure. "We'd better get going then!"

Lily frowned. "Go where?" she asked as everyone else was getting up from their seats and gathering their coats.

"To watch the fireworks," James said, looking at her like she was the daft one. "Come on!"

Lily hesitated for a moment – her plan had been to get home before midnight and watch the fireworks from the comfort of her own balcony. Pretty as the fireworks were, she had little desire to go see them with everyone else; the whole area near the city's official fireworks display would be packed, and Lily had never cared for crowds.

The four guys were all standing around the table now, wearing their winter coats and looking expectantly at her.

Lily bit her lip and got up from her chair. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. At least she wouldn't be alone.

She pulled on her coat and her scarf, and followed her new friends out of the pub.

They were in a cheerful mood as they walked along the streets – cracking jokes, laughing and bumping against one another. Perhaps it was the champagne bubbling agreeably in Lily's veins, or simply the good company she was in, but soon enough Lily was giggling at their bad puns and the tall tales of the best pranks they had pulled that year.

As they got closer to the Thames, the streets started to grow more crowded. James grabbed Lily's hand and offered her a crooked grin.

"Wouldn't want you to get lost, love."

Lily squeezed his hand in thanks. She looked around, at all the people. They were lining the river, a wall of onlookers so thick she could see nothing but their backs.

"How are we going to see the fireworks?" Lily wondered out loud. "All the good spots have already been taken. People must've been camping out here for hours."

"Some do," James replied. "But you don't need to worry, we have tickets. We'll get the front row seats – so to speak."

" _I_ don't have a ticket," Lily said, scowling at James.

Perhaps she would've been better off after all, going home to her cat.

"I have an extra ticket," James reassured her.

"You're just made of money, aren't you." Lily shook her head. "Who buys an extra ticket?"

"A bloke who thought he'd still have a girlfriend on New Year's Eve," he replied with a rueful shrug.

Lily made a face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean –"

"It's fine," James cut in. "Really, we weren't together for that long, anyway."

"Still sucks," Lily muttered, feeling raw all over again from her year of loss; her torn and tattered relationships.

"It does," he agreed. "But I think it worked out for the best, in the end."

He winked at her.

Lily rolled her eyes, though a part of her felt pleased.

Weaving through the crowd, they followed Remus' tall figure until they finally got to a section by the river that had been roped off. James showed their tickets and they were allowed in. Lily peered at the Big Ben, looming across the river. James had been right, they were front row seats.

"I didn't even know they sold tickets to the display," Lily admitted as they chose a spot.

"We've been coming here the past five years," Remus said.

"It's become a tradition," James added with a smile.

They waited, watching the clock tick the minutes at a crawling pace. The cold air was thick with excitement and anticipation, and Lily shuffled her feet, tucked in between Remus and James.

At last, the midnight was only seconds away. The crowd started to count down from ten. Lily's breath fogged as she joined in on the chant, wishing 2016 good riddance.

"Four – three – two – one!"

The crowd cheered. Big Ben began to chime for midnight, the clang of the bell almost drowned by the fireworks exploding around the clock tower.

"Happy New Year!" Peter cried.

"Happy New Year," Lily echoed, prying her gaze away from the fireworks to grin at her friends.

James' shoulder brushed against hers. He leaned in and captured Lily's lips in a kiss.

"Happy New Year," he wished her breathlessly as he pulled away, the flashing fireworks illuminating his flashed cheeks.

Lily smiled. If this was what 2017 had in store for her, she'd have no complaints.

She took his hand and leaned her head against his shoulder, looking up to see the fireworks blooming against the night sky, heralding a new beginning.


End file.
